Constance Marten told 'big fat lies' over baby's death, court hears

Constance Marten has been "grand-standing on a premier league level" and telling "big fat lies" about her baby's death, jurors have been told.

In his closing speech, prosecutor Tom Little KC said that Ms Marten, 36, had lied to the jury about what happened. He also said her partner Mark Gordon, 49, "did not dare" to give evidence.

Their baby was found in a bag in a shed in Brighton last March.

The couple deny manslaughter by gross negligence and other charges.

Mr Little told jurors at the Old Bailey: "Lies fell from her [Marten's] mouth like confetti in the wind when she gave evidence."

He said the couple's daughter Victoria "did not stand a chance" when Ms Marten and Gordon went on the run and lived in a "flimsy" tent on the South Downs last winter.

He told jurors not to be distracted by comparisons between the conditions in the defendants' tent and people surviving in other parts of the world.

Referring to Ms Marten's evidence, he said: "Jesus was born in a barn, yes, but Bethlehem is hardly a skiing destination.

"Tents in Calais are going to have fires next to them. All those attempts by Constance Marten to draw analogies all fail at the first hurdle."

The reality was that Victoria was "neglected and exposed to dangerous conditions", he told jurors.

Mr Little said: "A freezing cold baby girl with just a single baby grow and one vest. No hat."

It was no coincidence the only clothes found by police with Victoria's body were those she was seen wearing on CCTV, he added.

Victoria was found dead inside a supermarket "bag for life" wearing only a soiled nappy and hidden beneath "waste and detritus" on 1 March last year, the Old Bailey was told.

"This was a self-absorbed relationship between two selfish and arrogant individuals and caught in the middle of that toxic relationship was a baby that was manifestly not being cared for properly," Mr Little said.

He said the "freezing cold" baby was heard crying on two nights in January when it was "bitterly cold" and at least a week after Ms Marten claimed she had died.

Mr Little continued: "In her very short life baby Victoria did not stand a chance.

"That is the cold, hard, brutal reality of this case. There is no point in soft-soaping it.

"Baby Victoria would still be alive if it was not for the actions and inactions of these two defendants. Nobody else is to blame are they?"

The couple's four older children were "lawfully and properly" taken into care, Mr Little said.

He referred to a police interview carried out with Gordon on 1 March after baby Victoria's body had been found, saying the defendant said on "100 occasions" he would give his testimony to the jury and only the jury.

"Yet on the Monday he didn't take the short walk to the witness box," Mr Little said, adding that the prosecution believed this was because of the differences between his and Ms Marten's accounts.

"Better to leave the more articulate liar to tell lies on her own," he said. "You should hold his silence against him."

Jurors have heard how the couple went on the run from authorities last year in a bid to keep their baby.

They abandoned their car after it burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January 2023 and were finally arrested in Brighton on 27 February, days before Victoria's body was found in a disused allotment shed.

The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.